An Attempt to Hit the White Ball Straight

Author: jwojdylo@gmail.com
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When you visit any private country club in America, the membership director will likely tell you the membership roster is littered with dentists, orthodontists and other healthcare professionals. Why is this the case?

Well, it is very easy to understand as most dentists and orthodontists only work four days a week. Some of the most successful dentists and orthodontics offices are open on Friday but these are limited hours and the main doctors are not in the office. This is not to say they don’t work on Friday, but they are not in the office.

With Fridays to “play” and weekends available, beyond family obligations, it makes sense that dentists, orthodontists and doctors will want to play golf. Golf is an activity in which they can get away with the guys and they can use their technical skills to get better at the activity.

Some of the dentists and orthodontists I know that play golf include Jason Gladwell of Gladwell Orthodontics, Brett Wells of Wells Family Dentistry, Matt Wassel of Wainright & Wassel and Derek Sanders of Orthodontics Only. Note that all of these business professionals are highly successful in their fields which makes them want to become successful in the sport of golf.

If you are at a private country club and you are paired up with a few guys that you do not know, there is a good chance some of these individuals will be doctors, dentists or orthodontists. There are many at every private club. Also note there are several lawyers as well.

Note that many of these doctors, dentists, orthodontists and lawyers also have homes on courses that are private country clubs. This makes it a lot easier for them to get out in the evenings or on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

We all know that Mercedes, BMW and Audi are vying for sales when it comes to luxury vehicles. They also know that millions of people are watching and playing the game of golf therefore a large sponsorship is often worth it. Last week, at the BMW Championship in Chicago, all the players and announcers had the opportunity to drive around in brand new 2018 BMW models. This means BMW had about 100 new vehicles being test driven around the city of Chicago.

So, is it worth it? While luxury brands are pushing to the higher income customer brands like Honda are pushing first time car buyer discounts. It is amazing to see how these different marketing strategies are executed. We rarely see national TV commercials for Honda, Toyota, Ford and Chevy during golf tournaments. That said, we see a ton of those commercials during college football, NFL football and NASCAR.

Does seeing a brand new Mercedes or BMW driven by a PGA Tour professional make you want to go out and buy one? Does the fact that these golf championships are named after luxury car makers change your vehicle buying decision. Would you rather go get a Ford F150 and spend $50,000 or a BMW 3 series and spend $40,000?

At the end of the year, the luxury brands have to decide where to put their marketing dollars. Golf is obviously one of the best places to do so as they keep coming back for me.

If you are fortunate enough to play Hamilton Farms in Gladstone, New Jersey you will see bentgrass from tee to green. The fairways are bent and the greens are bent. I will be playing it this weekend so I will give you feedback on the course condition and how the greens are rolling. I have heard amazing things. Please comment below if you have played the course recently and have an opinion or review.

If you plan on playing Bright’s Creek in Mill Spring, North Carolina you are going to play bentgrass greens. The course is amazing and the greens were in fantastic shape in late 2016. If you played the course recently, please comment below with the course condition.

On Saturday, May 20, 2017 over 100 golfers played a round at Santa Barbara Golf Club for a great cause. The event was hosted by Eye and Vision Care and the proceeds went to The California Project to Cure Blindness. The research is being completed at UC Santa Barbara.

A team of scientists are using stem cells to develop ground breaking treatments for diseases like glaucoma and macular degeneration. Some of the participants of this event included vision impaired and blind golfers.

On one of the holes players were blindfolded showing just how hard it is to play golf with impaired vision. Six years ago this golf tournament started with just 24 golfers. In 2017, over 130 participants were signed up.

Anyone that has played golf that has less than stellar vision understands just how difficult the game can be. The importance of knowing distances and sitting the ball before it is hit can determine the success or failure of any golfer. Over the years, more and more golfers have elected to get LASIK eye surgery in hopes of improving their overall experience. In fact, Tiger Woods received LASIK eye surgery at a young age.

Hopefully, more and more country clubs and golf clubs host tournaments in which the proceeds will benefit research to cure blindness. As a golfer with very poor vision, I would be more than willing to donate my fair share to research.

Missing on the “amateur side” is common for, well, amateurs. When putting, the better putters always miss on the high side and miss long. This is especially important on bentgrass greens that break quite a bit. On championship bermuda, putts generally go straight and hold up with the grain, but fast championship bermuda greens can leave many amateurs on the low side of the hole.

Well, it didn’t take former President Barack Obama long to join a private country club close to Washington, DC. He has joined the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. We have tried to find out the initiation fee but have been unable to come up with a number. Our guess would be around $125k to $175k. The annual dues are around $14,000 to $15,000 a year from our research.

If you are a fan of golf you know all about Pinehurst. The first true golf village, where Payne Stewart won the US Open before passing away in a plane crash and the home to dozens of amazing golf courses. Every single year, millions of people book trips to Pinehurst with the intention of getting the best bang for their buck while eventually getting to play the crown jewel, Pinehurst #2.

One of my very good friends has a problem of going right under the ball and “chunking” every one of his wedges. Whether it be a sand, lob or gap wedge, he finds a way to go completely under it, throw sod over the ball and watch it land about 25 yards short. He constantly asks me “what wedge should I get for a 100 yard shot?” I have told him repeatedly he needs an approach wedge with a cavity back.

One of the hardest things to do for amateur golfers is to get power with a full swing while not dipping or dropping one’s head. For years, Tiger Woods fought the problem of dipping his head with his driver swing. If you can time it just right, it gives you amazing power but if you get caught at the top of your backswing it is going to cause you to miss a ton of fairways. So, should you dip your head when you come down with your driver swing?